Use of computers to create medical reports is now ubiquitous. The medical reports are often created from pre-existing medical data, i.e., data that has already been manually entered into a data record for a patient or is otherwise available in computer-readable form, e.g., a data file, image file and the like.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,684 (Fukatsu et al.) relates to a medical report creating apparatus operating in a medical information system to create a report on results of interpretation of medical images that a medical specialist is requested to interpret. The medical report creating apparatus specifies a link corresponding range for strings arranged in an observation column in a medical report display screen. A drag operation is input which specifies contents being displayed on a monitor. When a dragged display icon is dropped onto a link corresponding range displayed portion of a medical report creation screen to specify the string, address information on the content is acquired. The address information on the referenced content is then pasted to the string. Simultaneously, the string in the link corresponding range has its color changed and is underlined for identification. After the report has been completed, a file is saved and the series of operations are finished. The file may be transferred to an image interpretation report requester.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 8,630,842 (Sorkey et al.) describes techniques for electronically recording notes and other data regarding care that has been provided to a patient in a healthcare setting. The systems and techniques may be used to allow a caregiver to enter information with a minimized number of mouse-clicks, selections and other operations. A contextual graphical user interface (GUI) is provided in the form of a plurality of zones, where each zone includes an iconic representation of a healthcare-related object. One zone may include subjects, in the grammatical sense, and another modifiers, while a third zone displays portions of a human body. A healthcare provider may select on a touch screen interface, the subject and modifier and may select a part of the body on which the particular action was performed. As one example, the subject may be an icon that identifies the type of caregiver that performed the action (e.g., resident physician, or nurse), the modifier may be the action performed (e.g., vital sign readings, IV administration, etc.), and the part of the body may be where the action occurred, if appropriate, such as a compression bandage to the patient's left arm. The system may then use a predefined syntax to convert the icon selections to a data representation of the particular activity.
Sorkey et al. thus relates to after-the-fact entry of data about activities performed on the patient.
U.S. Pat. Appln. Publ. No. 20090204421 (Guimaraes) describes a method for creating and editing electronic health records using a touch screen monitor connected to a computer with a central processing unit. The touch screen is divided into fields sized in accordance with a regular human fingertip, wherein each field corresponds to a data element and contains a label. Medical documentation templates are presented in a hierarchical structure. The user is presented with information in a sequential way in accordance with a process written into the electronic health record. Collapsible graphic user interface (GUI) elements are also provided which, once the GUI elements have been selected, retract in an accordion-type manner. User selections of the data elements are received by touching the user selections in sequence in the field three times. The first touch activates the data element indicating a positive response, the second touch indicates a negative response, and the third touch resets the data element.